In February, federal worker Stefanie Anderson sat at her kitchen table with her husband and asked questions she never imagined having to face: Were their children safe? Should they pull them from school? Should they leave their home?
A friend had sent her a link to a “DEI Watchlist” published by the American Accountability Foundation, a right-wing group with ties to senior officials in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. It listed Anderson’s name, photo, salary and work history, and accused her and other federal employees of pushing “radical” diversity, equity and inclusion policies in government.
“My heart dropped,” Anderson said.
The longtime public health worker spent much of her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specializing in infectious disease outbreaks. Her work included a deployment to Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis. More recently, she supported HIV prevention programs. After her profile appeared on the site, her phone rang for a month with about 30 calls a day from unknown numbers.
Anderson is among 175 federal employees, mostly civil servants, named on “watchlists” posted online by the American Accountability Foundation, which wants them removed from their jobs for allegedly promoting liberal ideologies. Many are women and people of color with long careers under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Most have little or no public profile and have spent their careers in behind-the-scenes government roles.
The right wing are terrorists.